Abstract: A system and method for the analysis of email traffic in a computer network comprising a mail server computer (2) and a plurality of remote employee computers (3) connected to the mail server computer. Email communications are sent and received at each of the employee computers via the mail server computer. The header information and any available attachment information of each email communication are copied and analysis on the header and attachment information is carried out. Reports based on the analysis of the header and attachment information are generated for review by a system administrator. Any unauthorised communications are brought to the attention of the system administrator. Reports on the usage of email by the organisation's entire workforce may be generated. In this way an analysis of email communication may be carried out without reviewing the actual content of each individual email.